Robotic Lawn mowerโฃ Leaves Amateur Footballโ Club with Unplayable Pitch
Egels-Popens, Germany โ- A robotic lawnmower malfunction has rendered the pitch of SG Egels-Popens, anโฃ amateur football club, โฃunusable until spring, forcing the cancellation โฃofโฃ upcoming matches โand incurring unexpected costs. The incident, involving โฃtheโค club’s robotic mower nicknamed “Robby,” occurred recently, leaving the field severely damaged.
The unplayableโค condition of the pitch impacts youth โฃand senior teams, requiring seven home โฃgames to be relocated to โคa nearby artificial turf field. This relocation introduces additional rental expenses for the โขsmall, volunteer-run club, which discovered its insurance policy does notโข cover damage attributed โฃto “higher force.” Club chairman,Thomas Fink,stated that while โค”Robby” is not being blamed,the incident prompts consideration of future upgrades or a secondโฃ robotic mower to share โขthe workload.โ
Accordingโ to Fink, the robotic mower simply stopped functioning correctly, “leaving โขa โbroken patch โbehind. Eventually, it just entirely stopped.” โขThe club โฃhas received assurances โfrom the maintenance company that no notable damageโฃ occurred to the robot โitself.
The damaged pitch is now frozen,โ preventing โคimmediate repairs.The club faces financial strain due to the unexpected relocation costs, as โคthey are unable to play on their home โฃground forโฃ the foreseeable future.Finkโ indicated thatโ “Robby” is now โ”in hibernation” while the club assesses long-term solutions.